The use of cables for signal transmission paths is well understood in the communication art. The use of cable connectors for connecting such cables to circuit boards and the like is also well understood. The more miniaturized the communications systems have become, the more difficult it has become to keep the many wires of the cables secured to a connector device. In the prior art the many wires of the cable are connected to a connector by soldering of the wires of the cable to a plurality of solder pots. Solder pots are the ends of contacts which protrude from a receptacle holder. The connector normally has a housing which holds the receptacle holder and that housing is clamped to the cover of the cable in two principal ways. The first principal way is to crimp the ends of the housing to the cable cover and the friction of the "pushed in" section of the housing clamps the housing in position to the cable. An alternative practice in the prior art has been to use a cylindrical clamp which has screws passing orthogonally to the cable cover. As the screws are tightened or threaded inward the ring more firmly grasps the cable cover. In such prior art practices a special tool has been required in order to effect crimping and neither of the techniques prevents rotation of the receptacle holder within the housing nor do such techniques prevent axial movement of the receptacle holder within the housing. Accordingly, any strains on the cable connection per se are transmitted to the solder connections and can cause those connections to break in response to a twisting motion or in response to a pulling effort.
In my copending patent application entitled "Cable Connector Arrangement," Ser. No. 07/006,872, Plug Body For A Cable Connector Arrangement, Ser. No. 07/006,871, and Cable Connector Arrangement To Accommodate Multiple Cable Sizes, Ser No. 07/034,008, I have described improved devices for securing connector pieces to cables. While straight cable connections are improved by the structure taught in my above mentioned copending applications, there has been a need for securing cables which are laid out to follow an angular path. For instance, in high quality instrumentation, it is often the requirement that the cables enter the instrument box along a path which is at right angles to the electrical connections of the instrument per se. Heretofore such cable arrangements included a technique whereby the cables were connected or soldered within a box. Such a procedure is difficult and the end results are unsatisfactory in that the cable connections within the box are not protected from twists or tugs applied to the cable.
The present arrangement provides a simplified means for laying out a cable around a right angle (or other angle), for clamping an angular cable connector arrangement to a cable without requiring special tools and further provides a means for preventing both rotational and axial movement of the cable connections which are being held within a housing.